Breaking In: November/December 2024 - Writer's Digest

Pre-Young: Too Young for Cancer is the first book I've authored. I decided to write it because when I was initially diagnosed with stage IV cancer at twenty-nine, to say I was devastated would have been an understatement. I had no idea what to expect, and all I really knew about cancer at that point in my life came from books, movies, and TV shows-most of which were fear-striking and made me doubt if I was strong enough to endure what was ahead of me. I wanted to shed light on the mental battle, which is often twice as challenging as the physical fight against cancer, share how important it is to advocate for yourself, and to highlight how empathy in the face of uncertainty helped reshape my damaged relationship with the medical system.